Australia Pushes for Pardon of Al-Jazeera Reporter

Straits Times ^ | Jun 24, 2014 9:15 AM

[nickcarraway]

Australia on Tuesday urged Egypt's new leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to issue a presidential pardon for Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste to prove to the world Cairo is on a path to democracy.

Australian Greste and his Al Jazeera colleague, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, were both sentenced to seven years in Jail by a Cairo court on Monday for aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood and "spreading false news".

[GeronL]

How is pardoning this guy proving they are on a path to democracy?

[4rcane]

Journalists should be allowed to lie, commit fraud to the public and not be punished

[BobL]

7 years seem reasonable for assisting the enemy. Also, the Egyptians have no interest in trying out democracy again - not after they had to deal with the lunatic that got voted-in a few years ago.

[SunkenCiv]

• Egyptian correspondent sentenced to five years in prison for inciting strife (Christian convert)
• Egypt 'declaring journalism a crime' by jailing Al-Jazeera correspondents
• John Kerry snubbed by Egypt's heavy jail sentences for al-Jazeera journalists